tRNA are decorated by a plethora of chemical nucleotide modifications, which affect all aspects of tRNA biology including processing, turnover and the functionality of tRNA during protein synthesis. Some tRNA modifications are evolutionarily conserved highlighting their functional importance.
Their absence is linked to cellular stress responses and implicated in several human diseases including degenerative diseases and cancer. However, we still do not understand how a lack of modifications contributes to the etiology of these diseases.

This work was carried out in the group of Prof. Sebastian Leidel.

References:

• V. de Crécy-Lagard, P. Boccaletto, C. G. Mangleburg, P. Sharma, T. M. Lowe, S. A. Leidel, J. M. Bujnicki;
  "Matching tRNA modifications in humans to their known and predicted enzymes"
  Nucleic Acids Res., 2019, 47(5), 2143-2159; doi:10.1093/nar/gkz011.
• R. Schaffrath, S. A. Leidel;
  "Wobble uridine modifications - a reason to live, a reason to die?!"
  RNA Biol., 2017, 14(9), 1209-1222; doi:10.1080/15476286.2017.1295204.